Tuesday, January 26, 2010

More for the "our money, their self-promotion" file

The cost of those taxpayer-funded Conservative government exercises in economic accountability and self-promotion has passed $250,000 - and will rise further.

The delivery of the Harper government's third, glossy report card on its economic action plan last Sept. 28 cost more than $143,000, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press.

That's on top of $108,000 spent for a similar report in June, and doesn't include the cost of the final report last month.

The fact that these costs were frivolous, apparently of no concern to a government that now seeks to impose significant budgetary cuts. Their credibility as wise fiscal managers, again, takes a hit. This was the most serious recession to hit the world, and Canada, in decades, yet look at the picture above. At the third economic update in September, the Prime Minister rode into the event on the front of a locomotive. These were the choices they made and we paid for it, totally unnecessary.

The silly costs we taxpayers are footing for these events is the big point here, yes. But this reporting on the costs of the economic update spectacles beyond Parliament also reinforces the unfortunate prorogation dynamic for the government. It furthers the perception of how the Conservatives treat Parliament, with disrespect and as an inconvenient hindrance to their partisan priorities.